Concrete-road-finishing machine



Nov. 19, 1929. H. LICHTENBERG CONCRETE ROAD FINISHING MACHINE Original Filed June 6. 1922. 2 Sheets-Sheet sa WM NOW 1929- E. H. LICHTENBERG 1,736,413

CONCRETE ROAD FINISHING MACHINE Original F i le d June 6. 1922 v 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Patented Nov. 19, 1929 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE BEIGE H. LICHTENBEBG, OF MILWAUKEE, WISCONSIN, ASSIGNOR T KOEHRING COM- PANY, OE MILWAUKEE, WISCONSIN, A CORYORATION CONCBETE-BOAD-FINISHING MACHINE Original application filed June 6, 1922, Serial 170. 586,868. Divided and this application filed June 7, 1926. Serial No. 114,314.

This invention relates to a concrete road finishing machine, and more particularly to a hopper construction adapted to deliver to a subgrade a predetermined thickness of aggregates. Such hopper construction comprises a division of my application filed June 6, 1922, Serial Number 566,363.

The invention has for an object to provide a novel construction of hopper adapted to be mounted upon a portable support and extending substantially entirely across a subgrade and provided with delivery means by which a predetermined thickness of material is deposited u on said sub-grade.

A further 0 ject of the invention is to provide a construction of hopper whereby the material therein is fed by gravity and the discharge from the hopper controlled by means for varying the amount thereof to deliver a predetermined thickness of aggregates for paving purposes.

Another object of the invention is to provide a new construction of delivering means comprising a pivoted door provided with an operating lever connected with means by which said lever may be adjusted and retained in position.

Other and further objects and advantages of the invention will be hereinafter set forth and the novel features thereof defined by the appended claims.

In the accompanying drawing:

Figure 1 is a side elevation with parts broken away;

Figure 2 is a section on the line 2-2 of Figure 1 and Figure 3 is a top plan.

Like reference numerals designate corresponding parts throughout the several figures of the drawing.

Referring particularly to Figures 1 and 2, it is to be noted that my machine depicted therein, comprises a portable support consisting of a main frame 1 mounted upon the wheels 2, the latter being adapted to travel upon the side road forms or rails 3, a Well known expedient employed in the art. At its front end the frame 1 supports a hopper 4 equipped at its lower end with an adjustable door 5, whereby the discharge opening at the bottom of the hopper may be opened a greater or less distance to enable concrete aggregates disposed in the hopper to be fed out of the same by gravity and in a layer of predetermined thickness. The said thickness is governed by the adjustment of the door 5 which may be controlled in any suitable way, as by arms 6 capable of being adjusted pivotally by threaded shafts 7 operable by hand Wheels 8 through the provision of any conventional gearing. Just in rear of the hopper 4 is disposed a strike-elf 9, designed to be vertically adjustable in any well known manner.

The construction of hopper just described is adapted for application upon a movable support and in cooperativerclation with any preferred finishing means by which the aggregates deposited upon the sub-grade are properly leveled and finished for the completed pavement. A desirable structure of portable support for such finishing means is shown in my original application before mentioned and is herein generally described.

The finishing or ironing out rollers hereinbefore referred to are located in rear of the strike-off 9 and are marked 10 in the drawings. These rollers, as seen best in Fig. 2, are disposed in rearwardly diverging relations, the adjacent ends slightly overlapping and the two rollers extending entirely across the concrete surface adapted to be operated upon thereby, and being arranged at an angle to longitudinal and transverse lines intersecting the plane of the road-bed or road.

An engine 11 is mounted on the frame 1 at any suitable place and is connectedby variable speed transmission mechanism 12, near one side of the machine with a driven shaft 13 having abevel gear 14 engaging coacting double gears 15 on a longitudinal propolling shaft 16. The shaft 16 is suitably geared to transverse axle shafts 17 and 18, on which the Wheels 2 are mounted. The shafts 17 and 18 may be split shafts equipped with clutches 19, to enable the wheels 2 at opposite sides of the machine to travel at different speeds when the curves in the road form track are to be negotiated. I

From' the engine 11, rollers 10 will be driven by variable speed transmission gearing 20 connecting the engine shaft 21 with a driven shaft 22 geared at 23 to a shaft 24 which is geared at 25 to a vertical shaft 26. At its lower end vertical shaft 26 is geared to a transverse roller driving shaft 27 which extends across the frame 1 and has gears 28 at its opposite ends meshing with similar gears 29 on the outer ends of the rollers 10. By the foregoing mechanism the rollers 10 may be driven at different speeds and in opposite directions from the engine 11, the

variable speed gearing 20 including a reverse gearing of any conventional type. Furthermore, the variable speed gearing 12 includes a reverse gearing of a suitable kind, and this enables a driving of the portable support of the machine forwardly at different speeds, and also in a reverse direction when desired.

For raising the outer and inner ends of the rollers 10 to throw same into and out of action, I employ a forward roller raising shaft 30 operable from either side of the machine by hand wheels 31 and having worm 32 at its central portion engaging a worm gear 33 on a vertically threaded standard 34, the lower end of which supports in any suitable manner the said adjacent and overlapping ends of the rollers 10. As regards the outer ends of the rollers 10, it will be seen that at each side of the machine I provide a vertical standard 35, see Fig. 1, the lower end of which supports the outer end of the adjacent roller 10 and the cooperating geared end portion of the shaft 27. A raising shaft 36 operable by hand wheels 37 at its opposite ends, and at opposite sides of the machine, has ears which mesh with racks on the standards 35, and turning of either wheel 37 will raise and lower the rollers 10 simultaneously at their outer ends. The shaft 26 is a slip joint shaft, in other words made of telescoping sections, enablin the said raising and lowering movement 0 the outer extremities of the rollers 10 in the manner set forth. If desirable, further finishing means may be provided at the rear of the mechanism as indicated at a0.

It will be noted that the disposition of the delivery door in a rearwardly inclined position extending entirely across the sub-grade prevents the heaping of material and feeds the same in a stream laterally of the vertical axis of the hopper so that it is deposited in a spreading action as distinguished from a dumping operation.

The construction of hopper presented is adapted to deliver a layer of predetermined thickness of the paving aggregates substantially entirely across the sub-grade and ready for the finishing operation adapted to be performed by proper cooperating means carried by the same support. By a proper ad- 'ustment of the door at the delivery of the opper a feed by gravity is secured which obviates the use of other spreading or distributing means to deliver an even layer of the aggregates in proper position for com pletmg the road surface.

While the specific construction of the portable support and one form of finishing means has been herein shown and described, the invention is not confined thereto nor to the particular configuration of the hopper as changes and alterations may be made within the scope of the following claims without departing from the spirit of the invention.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. In a concrete spreading machine, a portable support and a container thereon having a control discharge spaced from the subgrade and extending substantially across a sub-grade, said discharge being adapted to deliver a preformed layer of predetermined thickness of material upon said sub-grade for the full width thereof, and means at the side of the subgrade for holding the support in spaced relation to the subgrade and at a predetermined plane.

2. In a concrete spreading machine, a portable support and means for holding the support elevated in relation to a subgrade and at a predetermined plane, a container thereon having a control discharge spaced from the subgrade and extending substantially across a sub-grade, said discharge being adapted to deliver a preformed layer of predetermined thickness of material upon said sub-grade,

and means for varying the discharge from said container to vary the thickness previous to deposit.

3. In a concrete spreading machine, a portable support and a movable hopper having a control discharge at its base extending substantially entirely across a sub-grade and adapted to deliver by gravity a predetermined thickness of material upon the subgrade, said discharge being constructed and arranged to deposit the material as a uniform layer upon and for the width of said subgrade, and means at opposite sides of the subgrade being paved for holding the portable support in spaced relation to the sub rade.

4:. In a concrete speading madhine, a portable support, a downwardly tapering hopper mounted thereon with a discharge opening at its bottom spaced from the sub grade and of an operative area effective to deliver the maximum thickness of material for subgrade covering, a closure for said opening disposed to deliver a predetermined amount of material from the hopper and to discharge said material in a plane at an angle to the vertical axis of the hopper and in the form of a uniform layer of a desired thickness, and supporting means at opposite sides of the subgrade for maintainin the portable support elevated above the su grade in its travel.

5. In a concrete spreading machine, a gravity discharging hopper, and an adjustable delivery door disposed beneath the discharge for said hopper and extending substantially across a sub-grade in sufliciently spaced relation to the subgrade to shape the material issuing from the hopper to the desired cross section before deposit of the material.

6. In a concrete spreading machine, the combination of a portable support adapted to span the road subgrade upon which the concrete aggregates are laid and to travel on road forms laid upon the subgrade, a hopper carried by said support transversely of the axis of the road subgrade and provided with a discharge opening, together with means controlling said discharge opening for varying its operative area, the said hopper opening being located in such relation to the subgrade as to feed the concrete aggregates from the hopper in a depositing layer of predetermined thickness.

7 In a concrete spreading machine, the combination of a portablesupport adapted to span the road subgrade upon which the concrete aggregates are laid, a hopper carried by said support transversely of the axis of the road subgrade and provided with a discharge opening located in such relation to the subgrade as to feed the concrete aggregates from the hopper in a depositing layer of predetermined thickness, means to control the discharge opening comprisin a door adjustable to vary the thickness of t 0 layer of concrete before being laid down by the machine and in passing from the hop'per,and wheels adapted to travel on road rails and to hold the hopper at a predetermined elevation above the subgrade.

40 8. In a concrete spreading machine, a portable support, a container thereon having a discharge extending substantially entirely across a subgrade and adapted to deliver a layer of predetermined thickness of material upon said subgrade, and motive means upon the support connected to propel the same at a speed to insure such delivery without unnecessary alteration of the layer.

9. In a concrete spreading machine, a portable support, a containerthereonhavingadischarge extending substantiall entirely across a subgrade and adapted to de iver a predetermined thickness of material upon said subgrade, and a motor mounted upon the support and geared to propel the same at a speed relative to the delivery capacity of said container, such that the material is deposited in the required cross section formation.

In testimony whereof I afiix my signature; ERICH H. LIOHTENBERG. 

